Celebrating the Metolius River

Clearwater Gallery and the conservation organization Friends of the Metolius joined forces last Saturday to celebrate the Metolius River.

The gallery hosted an eclectic, non-juried art reception, "For the Love of the Metolius." Each entry represented the Metolius River as its main focus.

Clearwater Gallery owners Dan and Julia Rickards will donate 20 percent of the sale of each art piece to Friends of the Metolius to support their mission to protect the Metolius Basin.

The celebration was already in full swing by 5:30 p.m., with 30 local contributing artists, art collectors and admirers mingling around the gallery drinking complimentary wine and sampling appetizers.

Dan Rickards made the first announcement of the evening: "What's amazing is I couldn't believe how many pieces of artwork were given to the gallery for the next seven to 10 days of the show. The diversity, the colors and the way that all the artists used the river is really exceptional."

Rickards portrayed the river in his latest work on canvas, "Heart of the Metolius" and will be donating a portion of each sale to Friends of the Metolius through December 31, 2013.

The inspiration behind "Heart of the Metolius" was the way the early morning light plays with the colors of the river and how fast it changes.

"I was doing a commission piece for a couple, and they chose that spot on the river as the morning light illuminated the scene. I wanted to recreate the way we remembered it," Rickards said.

Doug Hancock, president of Friends of the Metolius, spoke of the group's dedication as a conservation organization that protects the natural resources of the Metolius Basin; they are all volunteers and partner with the Forest Service in most of their endeavors.

"We monitor water quality and have done that for 20 years; we are also rebuilding trails down by the river," said Hancock. "One big focus this year will be trying to get rid of all the bad weeds; we will get together on a weekend and become the weed warriors, by pulling them."

A highlight of the evening was Jena Rickards playing her new Metolius theme song.

"This is my first song that has been a theme. I found a way to represent the Metolius without actually saying the word," said Rickards. "I was driving back from Bend when I thought of the words, then wrote them all down."

Each artist captured the essence of the Metolius River in their own unique artistic expression.

Gary Albertson, owner of Sisters Gallery and Frame Shop, submitted his photograph titled "Winter Meditation."

"The river always inspires me. I live a stone's throw from it and try to walk it every day, I know the area by heart," said Albertson. "I am a very lucky man, I cannot see very well anymore but I get to live right by the Metolius."

Curtiss Abbott submitted his photograph titled "Metolius Dance."

"What inspired me most about the river are the different colors and patterns of the water, so I used a one-second exposure to capture the textures," he said.

Dennis Schmidling, manager of Sisters Gallery and Frame Shop, was inspired by the natural relationships in nature for his photograph "Mallards Metolius."

"I watched two large fish and a mallard in the river for a long time and realized that these guys are really friends helping each other out," he said.

For more information about Friends of the Metolius visit www.metoliusfriends.org.

To learn more about Clearwater Gallery visit www.theclearwatergallery.com.